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Thursday, September 15, 2011

All the News from St. Paul!

Hello, dear readers! Sorry I've been an absentee blogger this week. I'm afraid I may have given the impression that my book is done. Alas, while the photography is complete (hurrah!), there's still a lot of writing and revising work for me to do. And in addition to scrambling to get that work done, I'm a jet-setting lady too. I'm here at The Creative Connection as a BurdaStyle ambassador. I salute you, my subjects! As promised, here's all the news:

OMG, it's freezing here. I'm in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and we're experiencing an early frost. Carol from BurdaStyle and I made a trip to the Mall of America (how novel!) and bought tights. I got these cute lace ones in nude. I'm in love.

We also stopped by the Bettie Page store where I bought the new book Retro Makeup by Lauren Rennells. I started it (in the bathtub!) last night and it's incredibly well done.

Last night we had dinner with some gals from Etsy as well as Gussy, who's a peach. We've decided we should go on the road together as The Gussy & Gertie Show.

We set up the booth this morning. That pic above is me posing with my new friend for the weekend (we'll just call her "Singer"). We're in the "lounge," where we'll be making cute little bags.

The shirt dress I'm wearing was made recently from a pattern of my own design. Let me be coy and say perhaps you shall have the opportunity to make the pattern yourself someday! So I dearly hope you like it. It has shirring in the back so it's super comfy.

I'm also wearing my "conversation clogs." People love to stop me to talk about them so I make lots of new friends!

My editor, Melanie Falick, is coming in soon and we're bunking together tonight. She'll probably chain me to my laptop until I finish the book.

I'm teaching a hand stitches class tomorrow at 8 a.m. (yikes) and a blogging class on Saturday afternoon. Hope to see you there!

Welcome to the strange and wicked world of fall weather in Minnesota! Three days ago we were at the beach basking in 90 degree weather. This morning my flowers were wilted from frost. Thankfully this cold spell should be short and the weekend looks quite nice.

I won't be making it to The Creative Connection. Too many obligations with my work and kids. I'm jealous of all who are able to go. Have fun!

Sounds like you are having a good (if busy and somewhat chilly) time! I'm actually in the market for a good shirt dress pattern and haven't found anything I really loved yet...maybe yours will come out soon?! Hope so!

It is chilly! Come and visit us at the Textile Center in Minneapolis if you have a spare minute on Friday or Saturday. http://www.textilecentermn.orgI work there (and I will be at work and not at the Creative Connection - sigh) and I know you'd love it.

I'm guessing your adorable shirt dress is one of the patterns included in your upcoming book. If so, YAY! I have a serious shirt dress addiction - I just bought another vintage pattern yesterday.

I know you've posted the shoes before, but I get excited every time I see them. Green is my absolute favorite color. I've put off buying myself a pair because I've read that they run a bit narrow. If for some reason you have wide-ish feet and they still work for you please let me know!

oooh, I forgot that this was this weekend! I had been thinking of driving up to visit the show. I live just across the MN/IA border, only about an hour and a have away. My parents live about 15 minutes from the show. We woke up today a little frosty. :) It's been cooling off the last week or so but it isn't too bad (yet). it's usually this nice until a week or so after Halloween.

I hope you are enjoying your travels (though it does sound packed and a bit stressful). I'm sure you're learning so much and making great new connections.

I love the dress you're wearing, as well as the fabric. Ever since your first stitch-along, I've gone on a home decor / quilting tangent (after a while of sewing only dresses). My creations are up on my blog: www.sewlavie.com. A better baby quilt is on its way, and I've got a dress half-done, with underlining and lining (not close-fitted though) which is super retro and will be so pretty.

Love the dress! I stetched one up a lot like that one in the Spring but haven't drafted the pattern yet. Maybe I'll just wait to get your book;)

I'm so glad you asked the question because I'm about to pop. I'm making three dress shirts for my husband, a pair jeans for me and I'm teaching a pants fitting and construction class tomorrow. Okay, I feel better now...

As someone in the publishing biz, I want to warn you and your readers about something called "page proofs."

To y'all, there's writing, rewriting, creating the images to display the ideas (in the legendary "one picture is worth 1,000 words"), then tweaking the images, revising text to work with the images, and working back and forth with your editor to put together a book that's going to best express your ideas in a form that's most likely to engage your audience.

But having hopped that hurdle, suddenly an overnight package arrives that must be returned within a day or so. That package contains the "page proofs" -- your last chance to correct anything horrible that's gone astray in the process.

Something will have gone astray in the process. Whether the printers have used the wrong file for a photo or the font is wrong in one section, or revisions weren't incorporated correctly, you, the author, will have only this one final chance to fix the problem.

It will be stressful, no matter how error-free the page proofs really are. You will feel overwhelmed by the idea that your book depends on your ability to catch every flaw (I'm re-iterating this for your followers, Gertie, even though I know you've been in the publishing biz -- and for you because this will matter to you no matter how many times you experience it because it's suddenly your book.

So there will be other disruptions in this blog -- but only so that we can order your finished book in all its glory.

Congratulations on the work you have completed and best wishes for what lies ahead!

It's not usually this cold this early here in the Cities. It's like Mother Nature flipped the fall switch. It was really warm here last week. So minus the weather, hope you are having a wonderful time here.

Hi Gerty, Sounds like you are having fun in the good ol' Mid-West! I have a question for you, was wondering if I could have your experienced input... I am looking for a new sewing machine. I have been learning how to sew with sew-alongs, books ect. Your sew-alongs are really my favorites because I learn the most and they are easy to understand. Anyway, I'm looking to spend $500-800 dollars and need a machine that is easy to use for a beginner like me but will last me a long time. I know you're a very busy girl but if you could weigh in that would be great! Thanks!

I love your skirtdress. So elegant, feminine, retro and yet modern, I love the pattern. I made one similar my self, and put it in my blog: http://mertxeshomesewing.blogspot.com/I also like your clogs. Wooden clogs ara one of my favourite...Congratulations for your art, and cheers...